Trump Admin Uses Wartime Powers to Sidestep Congress and Push $23B in Arms Sales to Gulf States [View all]

Source: Yahoo! News/MEDIAite

Fri, March 20, 2026 at 5:10 PM EDT


The Trump administration moved Friday to force through more than $23 billion in weapons sales to key Middle Eastern allies by invoking emergency powers to bypass Congress and fast-track deals that lawmakers had yet to approve.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that “an emergency exists requiring the immediate approval of critical arms transfers for Middle East partners currently under attack by Iran,” according to a State Department statement.

The use of emergency authority to override Congress is legal under the Arms Export Control Act.

The sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan include 11 separate arms packages. Some of the deals had been under review on Capitol Hill, while others had not even been formally submitted to Congress. The emergency declaration allows the administration to sidestep the long-standing congressional oversight process governing foreign arms transfers, a mechanism designed to give senior lawmakers time to scrutinize deals worth billions.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-admin-uses-wartime-powers-211036960.html